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Platform Capitalism and Edtech
For-profit edtech needs to be banned, and the government must play an active regulatory role.
Gurumurthy Kasinathan writes:
After a Congress member of Parliament from Tamil Nadu highlighted the unethical practices of the Indian edtech companies in Parliament, the Ministry of Education (MoE) issued an advisory. The advisory asked parents to “verify that content being provided is in line with the syllabus” and “do a background check on the edtech company”—impossible requirements for the vulnerable sections like daily wage workers, who are increasingly targeted by edtech companies. The union education minister subsequently announced the formulation of a policy to regulate edtech platforms. Almost immediately, a group of edtech vendors informed the MoE that an “India Edtech Consortium” being formed would evolve a “code of conduct” for members, basically seeking to thwart regulation. On 19 January, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) issued a ban on higher education institutions (HEIs) outsourcing their programmes to edtech companies.
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